
Book__Ai_li^ 



/y/Y 



CONDITION 






AMERICAN COLORED POPULATION, 



AND OF THE 



COLONY AT LIBERIA. 




Boston: 

PUBLISHED BY PEIRCE & PARKER 



1833. 



- STATEMENT OF FACTS. 

^'0 The statements in the pamphlet published by this Societ)' during 
■ the last year, had reference principally, to the establishment and pros- 

"■ perity of the Colony at Liberia. It is proposed to exhibit in the fol- 
lowing pages some facts relative to the present condition of the colored 
population in the United States, and to offer some remarks on the 
different measures recommended for their relief 

The facts to be presented, have all been derived from official docu- 
ments, or from special correspondence with intelligent and responsible 
gentlemen in various parts of the country, and may be relied upon as 
substantially correct. 

SLAVES. 

The first presentation of facts is designed to show the condition of the 
slaves in the United States, and will ha.ve respect to. the %ilowing top- 
ics. (L) Their population and increase. (2.) Their civil disabilities. 
(3.) Their intellectual and moral condition. 

I. Population and Increase of the Slaves in the United States. 

The following table is designed to show the population and increase- 
of the Slaves in the United States since 1820. The first column gives 
the name of the state ; the second, the census of 1820 ; the third, the 
census of 1830; the fourth, the increase of the slaves during the inter- 
vening ten years ; the fifth, the rate per cent, of slave increase ; and 
the sixth, the rate per cent, increase of the whites. 



Connecticut. 
Rhode Island, 
New York, 
New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, 
Maryland, 
Virginia, 
North Carolina, 
South Carolina, 
Georgia, 
Alabama, 
Mississippi, 
Louisiana, 
Tennessee, 
Kentucky, 
Indiana, 
Illinois, 
Missouri, 
Arkansas, 
Michigan, 
Florida, 
D. Columbia, 
Amount, 



Census of 1820 



• 48 

10,088 

7,557 

211 

4,509 

107,398 

425,153 

205,017 

251.783 

149.656 

41,879 

32,814 

69.064 

80,107 

126,732 

190 

917 

10,232 

1,616 



6,377 



Census of 1830 



23 
14 

46 

2,246 

'386 

3,305 

102^878 

469.724 

246,462 

315,668 

217^407 

117,494 

65,659 

109,6Sl 

142,379 

165,350 

746 

24,986 

4,578 

27 

15,500 

6,060 



Increase from 
1820 to 1830. 



175 



44,571 
41.445 

67,761 
75,618 
32^845 

40,5()7 
62,272 

28,618 



14,754 

2,962 



Rate per Cent, 
of Slave In- 
crease. 



1,531,436 I 2,010,562 I 479.136 



10^ 

20 

25 

45 
180 
100 



30^ 



144 

2701 



Rate per 

Cent, of the 

Whites. 



15 

lOi 

56^ 

122^ 

67J 

21 1 

m 



104^ 



The above table'was compiled from Niles' Register for January 26th 
182-2, page 345, and for October 29th, 1831, page 17(3. The blanks 
in the fourth column show that instead of an increase, there was an 
actual diminution of slaves during the ten years comprised in the table. 
The diminution in Maryland was 4,520, and in the District of Columbia 
313. In some others they have nearly disappeared. It appears how- 
ever from the table, that in the Southern States, particularly those 
south of Virginia, there has been an astonishing increase of slaves. 
In some of the States it has surpassed the increase of the whites by 
forty, fifty, and even an hundred and fifty per cent. In Arkansas the 
increase of the slave population has surpassed the white by 1G6 per 
cent. 

The following table shows the relative strength of the white and 
black population in the slave holding states, at the close of each succes- 
sive 10 years, to the end of the present century, supposing the rate of 
increase to continue as it has been during the last ten. The table 
is taken from calculations made during the year by the Hon. Daniel 
Mayes, of Kentucky. 



184a 

185(f 


Whites, 4,523,248 


Blacks, 


3,041,456 


5,7^,737 




4,136,380 


18G0, 


7,131,863 




6,625,476 


1870, 


9,129,770 




9,010,647 


1880, 


11,696,110 




12,434,451 


1890, 


14,967,420 




16,910,853 


1900, 


18,158,297 




22,898,700 



From the above table it pppears that in 1900, should nothing take 

place to diminish the increase of blacks in the slave-holding states, they 

will exceed the whites by 4, 741, 166 — being an amount greater than the 

population of all the United States under Washington's administration. 

II. Civil Disabilities of the Slaves. 

The following statements have been taken principally from Stroud's 
Sketch of the Laws relative to slavery in the United States. They 
may be regarded as corollaries from the general laic concerning the 
jslaves, and also as matters of express legislation. 

1. Slaves have no legal rights of property in things real or personal ; 
but wliatever they may accjuire, belongs in j^oint of laic to their mas- 
ters. (The bearing of tliis on the purchase of freedom is obvious.) 

2. The slave, being a personal eliattel, is at all times liable to be sold 
absolutely, or mortgaged or leased at the will of his master. 

3. He may also be sold by process of law, for the satisfaction of the 
debts of a living, or the bequests of a deceased master, at the suit of 
creditors or legatees. 

4. A slave cannot be a jiarty, before a judiiial trihuniil, in any 
species of action, against his master, whatever may have been the 
injury received from iiini. 

5. Slaves cannot redeem themselves, nor obtain a change of masters. 
(). Shives being objects of j>roj>erti/ if injured by third persons, their 

owners may l)ring suit, and recover damages, lor the injury. 

7. Slaves can make no contract. 

8. Slavery is hereditary and j)erpetual. 



It may also be further stated concerning the disabilities of the 
slave, 

1. That he cannot be a witness against a white person, either in a 
civil or criminal cause. 

2. He cannot be a party to a civil suit. 

3. Submission is required of the slave, not to the will of his master 
only, but to that of all other white perso;is. 

4. The penal codes of the slave holding states bear much more 
severely upon the slaves than upon the white persons, — taking the 
life of the slave, where a slight punishment only is inflicted upon the 

'whites. 

5. Slaves are prosecuted and tried upon criminal accusations, in many 
of the states, without a jury. 

The condition of the slave, as regards emancipation, is peculiarly dis- 
tressing. 

The state of society in the slave holding states, and legislative eact- 
ments, have rendered it nearly impossible for any master to emancipate 
his slave. 

In Virginia and Mississippi, an emancipated slave may be taken in 
execution to satisfy any debt, contracted by the person emancipating 
him, previous to such emancipation. 

In Kentucky, the Act which authorises emancipation, contains a 
reservation of the rights of creditors. 

In Louisiana, any enfranchisement made in fraud of creditors, &c. 
is null and void. 

In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, it is only by 
authority of the Legislature, specially granted, that a valid emancipation 
can be made. 

In North Carolina it was enacted in 1777, that no negro or mulatto 
slave shall be hereafter set free, except for meritorious service to be ad- 
judged of and Mlloived hy the County Court, and license first had and 
obtained thereupon. 

The laws of Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and Maryland, afford 
greater facility to emancipation than the other slave holdino- states. In 
Virginia, however, there is a provision by which every emancipated 
negro, over twenty one years of age, who shall continue within the state 
more than twelve months after his right to freedom shall have accrued, 
may be again reduced to slavery. 

In order to secure the slave holding states in the use and possession 
of their property in the persons of slaves, and to prevent all escape of 
slaves from their masters, the constitution of the United States pro- 
vides, " That no person held to service or labor in one state, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of airy law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
may be due." 

III. Intellectual and Moral Condition of the Slaves. 

The benefits of education are withheld from the slave. 

No provisions are made in any of the slave states for the exlucation of 
the slaves, and in many they have absolutely prohibited instruction of 
any kind. 



So long ago as 1740, South Carolina enacted, " That all, and every 
person and persons whatever, who shall liereailer teach, or cause any 
slave or slaves to be taught, to write, or shall use or employ any slave as 
a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever hereafter taught, to write, 
every such person or persons, shall, for every such offence forfeit the 
sum of one hundred pounds current money." This prohibition has since 
been extended to all kinds of knowledge, and enlbrced by pains and 
penalties much more severe. The same is true in Georgia, Alabama 
and Louisiana. Virginia and North Carolina, also, have laws which 
amount to a prohibition of instruction. 

No provision is made for the moral and religious instruction of the 
slave. Public sentiment is generally unfavorable, although believed to 
be becoming more favorable to the spiritual interests of the slave. Many 
regard the slaves as incapable of religious exercises, and therefore con- 
sider all efforts to give them religious instruction unnecessary. Since 
they may not be taught to read, they cannot become acquainted with the 
Scriptures, except as auditors; their opportunities for hearing are so 
few and unfavorable, that they can never be expected to profit by them. 
In many of the slave states, they are forbidden to assemble by them- 
selves for the purpose of religious worship. In Virginia, " All meetings 
of slaves, &lc. at any meeting house in the night, under any pretext 
whatsoever, are declared to be unlawful assemblies. Mississippi has 
adopted the law of Virginia in this respect. In Alabama they are not 
permitted to assemble by themselves for worship at all, nor to have a 
white minister preach to them unless three slave holders are present. 
Similar laws exist in several other states. 

CONDITION OF THE FREE BLACKS. 

The following statements have respect to the present condition of the 
free blacks in the United States. They are all derived from authentic 
sources, and may be relied upon as substantially correct. 

I. Population and Increase of the Free Blacks. 

In the following tabular view, which is taken from the census of 1830, 
and that of 1820, the first column gives the name of the State ; the sec- 
ond, the aggregate of the free colored population ; and the third, the 
increaseofthe same, during the ten years which intervened between 
1620 and 1830. 



Maine, 

New Hampsliiro, 

\'ermf)nt, 

Massacluisctls, 

Rhode Island, 

Connecticut, 

New York, 

Now Jersey. 

Fonnsylvauia. 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 

Viri^inia, 

Nortli Carolina, 

South Ciirolina, 



Free colorcil 


Increase 


Pop. ill 18:^0. 


Ib0n_lf<:i0. 


1,1110 


261 


(U)l 




HSl 




7,048 


308 


:^,r)(ii 


7 


s.o.i? 


177 


•ii;s7o 


i.-..r>!ii 


i^.:?(i:! 


'..m:! 


:!7.!l.-,t) 


7.^^-Js 


ir.,s,-,.-, 


2,(527 


•"'•J .!):!.-( 


i:?,2()8 


'•7.:ms 


lU.t.'.il 


•!t,r,.i;? 


•i.'j:u 


7.'.IV>1 


1.2(17 





Tree coloreil 


Iiicrense 




l'oi>. ill lb30. 


1 8-30-1830. 


Georgia, 


2,48G 


723 


Alabama, 


1,572 


1,001 


Missi.ssippi, 


519 


61 


Ijonisiana, 


10,710 


6,234 


Tennessee, 


4, .5.55 


2,008 


KcTiiuckv, 


4,917 


1,158 


Oliio, 


9,5(i8 


4,745 


Indiana, 


3.729 


2,399 


Illinois, 


1.G37 


1,180 


Missouri, 


5t>9 


222 


Michigan Tcr. 


2G1 


87 


Arkansas Ter. 


141 




Florida Territory. 


844 




Dist. of Columbia. 


(■..152 


2,124 



By tbis table it appears that the total number of free blacks in 1830, 
wa& 319,599. The number in 1820 was, according to Niles's Regis- 
ter 233 398, yielding an increase during the intervening ten years, of 
86 201.' This last statement will be found to vary a little from the 
sum total of the third column above, owing to discrepancies in the pub- 
lished documents. Blanks are left in the third column opposite to 
New Hampshire and Vermont, as in those states the numbers, instead 
of in«reasing, actually diminished. In the latter state they diminished 
37 and in the former, 182. Some tables make the diminution in New- 
Hampshire amount to 321. It is worthy of particular inquiry to ascer- 
tain the causes of this rapid diminution. It will be perceived that the 
progress of this population in the middle and some of the southern 
states, is very rapid, compared with its increase in New Englaiid. This 
is to be attributed to the progress of emancipation. For instance, in 
New York there were more than 10,000 slaves in 1820, which num- 
ber was reduced in 1830 to 75. The increase of free blacks in Mary- 
land, and Virginia, is to be attributed partly to the same cause. Their 
very'small increase in the New England States, while the whites are 
gaining very rapidly, forcibly illustrates the misery of their condition. 

II. Civil Disabilities. 

Under this head are to be comprised all those disabilities which at- 
tach to free colored persons by the laws of the several states. 

1. The most extensive and universal disability (by many, how- 
ever, considered 'a privilege) regards the militia The laws of the 
several states relating to the militia, being founded upon the militia 
system adopted by the United States, provide for the exemption of color- 
ed persons from that service. With this exception the laws of many of 
the states recognise no distinctions of color. 

2. The right of suffrage is confined to whites in Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, South 
Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, 
and Missouri. In these states express provisions of their constitutions 
confine the right of suffrage to the whites. In the ten remaining 
states no constitutional restrictions of the kind appear to have been im- 
posed upon free colored persons. Yet, it is believed, that the statute 
laws of North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, impose similar re- 
strictions. In most of the remaining states, it is probable that the 
right of suffrage is rarely, if ever, exercised by this class of citizens, al- 
though no law may exist which disfranchises them. The burdens of 
taxation are, so far as known, imposed without the discrimination 
which prevails in regard to the right of suffrage. In Philadelphia, and 
perhaps in other places in Pennsylvania, no personal tax is imposed, the 
payment of such a tax being necessary to qualify for the right of suf- 
frage. 

3. In many of the States free colored persons are excluded by law 
from the privilege of holding office ; and where this is not the case, the 
presumption is that in those states where they are not allowed to vote, 
they would not be allowed to govern. It is not known that any such 
person has ever been elected to office, even in those states where the 
right of suffrage is extended to them. 



4. In a few of the states only, are there any laws expressly forbid- 
ding intermarriage between the blacks and the whites. 

5. Free persons of color are, in most of the states, allowed to pur- 
chase and hold property, real and personal, and mixed, and are enti- 
tled to the same protection in its enjoyment, and the same redress for 
injuries to it or to their persons, as the white citizens. In some states 
however, the tenure of their property is very insecure without a white 
guardian, as they are not allowed to testily against the whites, pr in 
cases where a white man is party. 

6. As to privileges in courts of justice, in Missouri, free colored persons 
can testify only in suits between free blacks, and on trials of free blacks 
for crime. The laws of Alabama are of similar import. In Delaware 
they cannot give evidence against a white person, except in criminal 
prosecutions, upon its appearing that no white person, competent to give 
testimony, was present at the commission of the act charged, or that 
such person, if so present, has since died, or is absent from the state 
so that he cannot be produced as a witness. In Maryland, they 
may be witnesses only for and against their own color. Such is the 
case in Ohio, Georgia, and probably in most of the slave-holding states. 
In inost of the free states it is presumed that the testimony of blacks is 
received on an equal footing with that of the whites. 

In many of the states the laws expressly exclude them from being 
impanelled as jurors ; and, so far as known, they have never served in 
that capacity in any of the states. 

7. In the New JEngland ^tid Middle States, the blacks enjoy the 
same rights of residence, and of emigration from one state to another, 
which belong to the whhes. In Connecticut a law is in force which 
empowers the proper authorities to preveut fo?-cigncrs, (citizens from 
other states or of other county^s) from residing in that state, but it is 
not discriminating in its application to any particular color. The black 
is not permitted to settle in Ohio, except he give bonds, to secure the 
state against any expense which he may incur by becoming a pauper ; 
nor is any one permitted to employ such an emigrant without giving 
similar bonds. Laws are in force in Maryland forbidding tliose who 
shall leave the state from returning to it. Similar laws exist in South 
Carolina. No free blacks are allowed to go into Georgia, and none to 
reside in it except those who have long been resident. In Delaware, 
none are allowed to enter the state, but the law is very rarely enforced. 
They are allowed to reside in Alabama by paying a tax of five dollars. 
They are not permitted to go into the state from other statrs on any 
condition ; nor, having left the state, can they return. Laws of similar 
character arc in force in Louisiana, Tennessee, and probably some 
other states. 

8. In New England and ihe Middle States, (a late law in Connecti- 
cut excepted) there appears to be no distinction made by law, with 

.reference to tlie privileges of education or religious worsliip, between 
the blacks and the whites. In all these states, and in Missouri, Mary- 
land, Delaware and Ohio, they arc allowed by law, not only to send 
their cliildrtiii to the public schools, but to establish schools for them- 
selves exclusively. Many such schools are |)atroniy.fd by tho hciu'vo- 
lent friends of the race among the whites. By a late law of Ohio, they 
cannot receive any benefit from the public school funds. In Alabama, 
they may not attend schools or have instruction among themselves. A 



prohibitory law, passed in Georgia, about eighteen months since, debars 
them from all the privileges of school education in that state. They 
may however be taught the catechism, or such moral lessons and por- 
tions of Scripture as they can commit to memory. With respect to 
other states no definite information has been received. In Connecti- 
cut a law has recently been passed forbidding the establishment of 
schools for the education of colored children from other states. 

III. Intellectual and 3Ioral Condition of the Free Blacks. 

It is to be feared that the statements now to be made will meet with an 
ungracious reception among a certain portion of the community. As ,a 
powerful means of enlisting public sympathy in behalf of the African 
race, the advocates of the Society have sometimes entered into an ex- 
position of such facts as would most accurately unfold their intellectual 
and moral condition. Accordingly, those who oppose the Society have 
attempted to show that it is the " disparager of the free blacks." 

It were, however, wholly impracticable to arouse public sympathy, 
either where no suffering or degradation exists, or where their existence 
is unknown. All benevolent operations must proceed upon the suppo- 
sition that there is want to be alleviated, or ignorance to be enlighten- 
ed, or degradation to be pitied ; and the vigor with which such opera- 
tions are sustained by the benevolent will be proportioned, not so much 
to the degree of this want, ignorance and degradation, as to their 
thorough and perfect exposure. The Colonization Society is not sin- 
gular in its proceedings. In whatsoever sense this society is the " dis- 
parager of the free blacks," in the same sense are the Bible and Tract 
Societies the " disparagers" of those to whom they extend their benevo- 
lence. In the same sense also, and to a higher degree, is the Foreign 
Missionary Board the " disparager " of the Heathen. Were that socie- 
ty to deny or to conceal the deep degradation and licentiousness of the 
American Indians, and of the Pagan world generally, it is difficult to 
conceive with what arguments they could successfully approach the 
sympathies of their patrons. 

Thus, in the case under consideration, it is equally true, that all 
attempts to provide for the relief of the free black and slave population 
of the country, must prove abortive if unattended by facts and state- 
ments relative to their actual condition. It would not be difficult to 
show tljat the same society, from whose advocates the complaint in 
question is heard, in its statements and arguments touching the situa- 
tion of the slaves, is as truly tlicir disparager as is the Colonization So- 
ciety the " disparager of the free blacks." 

The statements which follow are called for by the necessity of the 
case. They are not made in a spirit of taunt, or reproach, or boasted 
superiority, but with the hope that they may serve to call forth that 
commiseration which the cause of the deeply-injured African, when tru- 
ly stated, challenges for itself 

1. Intellectual Condition of the Free Blacks. Notwithstanding the 
privileges of education are nominally extended to them in the New- 
England, Middle, and some of the Southern and Western States, yet 
the prejudice which exists against their color serves to defeat, to a 
lamentable extent, the benevolent provisions of the law. In some cities 
and large towns, schools are maintained expressly for them. In Phila- 
delphia, particularly, there are many distinct schools for colored children, 
2 



10 

some of which have at different times been tauglit by colored tutors 
and much to their credit. " In these schools," says a gentleman of 
that city, " where they have been under the superintendence of quali- 
fied instructers, forty years' experience has proved, that they are no 
way inferior to the whites in the acquirement of learning." In the 
country towns of the states above referred to, the children of the blacks 
are not unfrequently found in common schools with the whites. But 
their situation is frequently made so uncomfortable that most of the 
benefits of such attendance are lost. Still more unfrequently are they 
to be found at Academies or high schools even in New-England — 
and still more rarely do they find their way into Colleges. Mr. Rus- 
worm, now in Liberia, is a graduate of Bowdoin College. Attempts 
were made some time since to establish a college exclusively for them 
in New-Haven, Conn. The plan, meeting with decided opposition 
from the inhabitants of that town, was finally abandoned. An attempt 
has been recently made to establish a high school for colored females in 
Canterbury, Conn. Vigorous and determined opposition has been 
manifested towards it by the inhabitants, so that its success is still doubt- 
ful. In many of the slave states, free blacks are not allowed to attend 
school, or to learn to read or write. Many of them, however, enjoy 
the benefits of sabbath school instruction, and commit to memory con- 
siderable portions of Scripture, &c. Yet a great majority are no 
doubt lamentably and grossly ignorant. 

2. Rdigious Privileges. Except in large cities, where they are 
found in sufficient numbers to compose congregations by themselves, 
they attend public worship with the whites. But the unenviable dis- 
tinctions which prevail even there, have a powerful infiuence in dis- 
couraging their attendance. In some parts of the country they enjoy 
the ministrations of preachers of their own color, and Large numbers 
are said to be in communion with various churches. 

3. Moral Condition. The following is an extract of a letter from a 
gentleman of extensive information and philanthropy in the state of 
New York. " The fact, that out of 40,000 blacks in this state in 1825, 
but nine hundred and thirty-one were taxed, and but two hundred and 
ninety-eight were qualified to vote ; and the further fact, that this pop- 
ulation, according to its amount, furnishes ten-fold more of the inmates 
of our prisons and alms-houses, than our white population does, testify 
conclusively to the general improvidence, indolence, and abounding 
viciousness and misery of this unhappy portion of our fellow-men." 

The following tabular views, taken from the Report of the Prison 
Discipline; Society, ibr 1827, exhibit, in regard to several states, the 
whole population at that time, the colored population, the whole number 
of convicts, the numl)er of colored convicts, proportion of colored peo- 
ple to the whole population, and proportion of colored convicts. 



MassJielinsctt!- 

Connocticut 

New-York 

Npw-JiTscy 

PpiinHylvntiin 



White 
Population. 



r)'j:{,()(l() 
•27."), 0(10 

i,:?7'j,ooo 

t»77,on() 

i,tM!»,oon 



C.loreil 
Population. 



7,000 

,^.000 

:^!\ooo 

iiO.OOO 

:?().o()n 



Wh.ilo No. 


or 


.\o. of Co 


("onvifls 




Convicts. 


:ii 1 




'M 


117 




:v.> 


(;n7 




l.-.J 


71 




^M 


171 




1(55 



Pro. of Col. 
People. 



I to 71 
I to S4 
I to 35 
1 to J3 
1 to 34 



Pro. of Col. 
Convicts. 



1 to 6 

1 to :? 

1 to 4 
1 to 3 
1 to 3 



11 

y-v Proportion of the Popula- Proportion of the Colored Pop- 

V»r, ^(j,j gy„t to Prison. ulation sent to Prison. 

In Massachusetts 1 out of 1GG5 1 out of 14U 

In Connecticut 1 out of 2350 1 out of 205 

In New York lout of 2153 1 out of 253 

In New Jersey 1 out of 3743 1 out of 833 

In New York 1 out of 2191 1 out of 181 

The report further states, that " the returns from several prisons 
show that the white convicts are remaining nearly the same, or are di- 
minishing, while the colored convicts are increasing ; at the same 
time the white population is increasing in the northern states, much 
faster than the colored population." 

In the eloquent language of Gerrit Smith, Esq., " having these statis- 
tics before us, and seeing that the policy of our laws concurs with 
our prejudices to debase this people, to deprive them of indis- 
pensable inducements to well doing, and virtually to close against 
them all avenues to honor and respectability, — how unphilosophical and 
uno-enerous it is, to look away from these sufficient causes of their vile 
cond^ion to fanciful and heartless speculations, about the inferiority of 
their natural endowments. It will be time enough for white men to 
accuse God of having given an inferior moral constitution to the negro, 
when they shall have spent as many centuries in enlightening, as they 
have in debasing him — when they shall have done as much to make 
him a man, as they have done to make him a brute." 

Having now considered, to some extent, the condition of the colored 
population in the United States, we come in the next place to inquire 
what can be done for them. 

The object of the Colonization Society, as expressed in its consti- 
tution, is " exclusively to promote and execute a plan of colonizing, (with 
their own consent) the free people of color residing in our country, in 
Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem expedient." It has, 
•by profession and principle, nothing to do with the rights of slave-hold- 
ers. It wishes for no interference with the tenure of slaves. The soci- 
ety regards these things solely as matters of legislation, and to be affect- 
ed only in a legal way. They wish, in their organized capacity, only to 
remove the blacks, which are now free, and shall from time to time be 
iMde free by their masters. In doing this, and by other exertions, 
they hope, however, so to affect the interests and feelingsof the slave-hold- 
ers, that they will enlist in the enterprize, and rejoice to free themselves 
from all property in human flesh. 

That the colonization scheme is tending to this result, and, if proper- 
ly managed, is adequate to its accomplishment, is certain from many 
considerations. It cannot, indeed, accomplish the object at once. It 
would be unreasonable to expect that this, or any other society or sys- 
tem could, in the space of a few years, remove an evil which has been 
increasing for two centuries. But if colonization can do that in less 
than one half the time in which the evil has been growing to its present 
size, it ought not to be accounted visionary, or unworthy of confi- 
dence. 

"Now," says the Rev. John C. Young, President of Centre College, 
Kentucky, "the systematic and efficient operation of this society could 
in less than seventy years settle the whole of our colored population in 
Africa ; and this great work could be accomplished without the ne- 
cessity of imposing on any one a single cent of additional tax. The 



12 

plan of operations by which this could be effected is simple and feasible. 
Let the emigration be every year enlarged by one thousand persons 
until the number annually exported amounts to 50,000. Continue the 
annual exportation of this number for twenty years longer, and the 
whole race will have disappeared from the land. The effect of this 
process, (supposing it to be actually entered upon) is not a matter of 
guess-work, but of calculation.' [See note in Young's Address.] It 
can certainly be done ; and if the operations of the society are permitted 
to go onward, and increase, as they have done, unobstructed by nation- 
al calamities, and the wildness of fanatics, it imll be done. 

But supposing all this cannot be effected through the influence of 
the Colonization Society, or that it were not desirable, as many think, to 
be done, yet we maintain that so much can be done towards meliorat- 
ing the condition of the colored population, both slaves and free, as to 
merit the hearty co-operation of every Christian and philanthropist. 

The present actual tendencies of the colonization scheme, so far as 
abolition and the general interests of the blacks are concerned, receive 
a favorable character from the following considerations, which are pre- 
sented as briefly as possible. 

1. The colonization scheme exerts, and has exerted, a happy iufluencn 
toward abolition, by directing the minds of people of all classes, in- 
cluding slave-owners, to the condition of the blacks. Before the plan of 
colonization was agitated, nothing, comparatively, had been done to me- 
liorate the condition of this class, and no interest had been felt in their 
behalf But when the plan which we speak of suggested itself to a 
few benevolent minds, an ardent feeling began to be roused in behalf 
of the negro. Inquiries were instituted ; discussion commenced ; and 
the public mind was excited to the calm but earnest consideration of 
the momentous subject in all its bearings. But for this Institution, the 
3,000 free blacks, who are now rejoicing in the land of their fathers, 
under a government and laws chiefly of their own, would still be endur- 
ing poverty and wretchedness ; and the slaves who have been emanci- 
pated would be still suffering in bondage. 

Says the Hon. Gerrit Smith, in a recent letter on this subject, " The 
late demonstrations, in Virginia and Maryland, of patriotic and Christian 
interest in our colored population, are commonly ascribed to the South- 
ampton insurrection. That insurrection may have been, and proba- 
bly was, a proximate cause of them ; but, in my judgment, Virginia 
and Maryland are vastly more indebted for the steps they have taken 
in the cause of universal freedom to the moral influence of the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society than to all other causes. And, may not most 
of those, who now rail at the Society, be likewise indebted to the same 
influence for their fresh and augmented interest in the welfare of the 
black man ? The tenacious slave-holder at the south lays all the blame 
of these things at the door of the Colonization Society, and this too, 
notwithstanding some abolitionists charge the Society with playing de- 
signedly into the hands of such slave-holders. And if such (he goes on 
to say) be the power of those moral influences now, wlien Liberia hasa 
population of 3,000, wliat will it be when r)0,000 of our blacks shall be 
gathered into that asylum ? Whether or not this shall be the result of 
colonization, remains to be seen ; but meanwhile it is certain that what- 
ever of influence is now exerted for the idtimate good of the blacks has 
been brought into exercise by the operations of our Institution. 



13 

2. The Colonization Society exerts a happy influence on the interests 
of the black population, by weakening the prejudice of the whites against 
them. Some of the doctrines and measures advanced and pursued in 
different parts of the country are, in our opinion, calculated to strength- 
en this prejudice. 

That the Colonization Society in its operations has a contrary effect, 
appears from the circumstance that before this scheme commenced, lit- 
tle or no interest was felt for the blacks, except by a few individuals. 
Prejudice ground them in the dust ; and, had their condition remained 
unaltered, would have continued to oppress them to the end of time. 
No sympathy was felt for them in their suffering and wretchedness. In^- 
deed, it did apparently no good to sympathize. It was like weeping for" 
the souls of the lost. Men will not feel when feeling is without effect. 
At any rate, this was true in the case of the blacks. They were despised, 
not because they were degraded merely ; but because respect could 
do them no good. But when the plan of colonizing them presented itself, 
the case immediately altered — a way was open by which the black 
could be benefited, and the hearts of all who understood the plan 
prompted them to action. As soon as people saw that something could 
be done to ameliorate the condition of this wretched race, they were 
ready and willing to do it ; and this feeling has gained strength with 
the increase of light, and with the success of the enterprize — and may 
we not expect that it will continue to gain strength as the colony on the 
coast of Africa increases in magnitude and importance, and as the prac- 
ticability of the scheme of benevolence in question is with every succes- 
sive day made more and moi'e certain? It must increase. But some may 
say, and they have said,that this interest in behalf of the blacks, so far from 
being an evidence that the prejudice is diminishing, results directly from 
prejudice ; and that if men would show respect for the blacks, or any 
interest in their behalf, they must treat them as they do themselves. 
Now this objection supposes two things. First, that the plan of coloni- 
zation is one of positive evil to the blacks, not only in tendency but de- 
sign. This assertion requires no argument. Finley, and Mills, and 
Ashmun, did not lay down their lives to sustain an Institution, which 
they thought would either directly or indirectly prove an injury to the 
blacks. Christians do not now pray for the success of this Institution 
because they hate the blacks, and wish in this way to do them evil. 
Heaven forbid that any one should charge them with such a crime ! 
What, Christians pray and contribute for the support of the Colonization 
Society because they hate the blacks ! Charity that endureth all things 
alone can endure this. 

But again, the objection supposes that for us to respect our fellow, 
and do unto him as we would have him do unto us, we should consider 
his circumstances in every respect the same as our own. It supposes that 
our duty to the blacks requires us, in order to do him the greatest possi- 
ble good, to treat him in all particulars, as we ourselves need to be 
treated — that we are not to consider age, character, color, constitution, 
nor any other circumstance or condition of life as making any differ- 
ence, but that we must regard him, without qualification, just as we 
are. Now this could not be true of any two white men in the country, 
much less of the whites and blacks, whose condition, in every respect 
differs most widely. Nor do the Sacred Scriptures require this. They 
suppose that we are to regard the difference of condition between our- 



14 

selves and others. We are to do to others as we would that they should 
do to us in like circumstances, it being remembered that the circum- 
stances of no two persons in the world are alike. If, therefore, we treat 
the negro in a manner which we suppose will promote his highest tem- 
poral and eternal good, we are not to be charged with acting under the 
influence of prejudice, because we do not treat a white man in the same 
manner. The circumstances of the two are so wide apart, that what 
would be a blessing to the one, would be ruinous to the other. We 
think it would be better to carry the negro to Africa and colonize him 
there, (with his own free will, of course) under a climate suited to his 
constitution, and under laws and institutions calculated to make him 
wise and happy, than to keep him here under the withering influences 
which are operating against him. Are we therefore under the influence 
of prejudice ? If we are, it is a prejudice which duty prompts us exercise. 
But we have bestowed more attention to this objection than it deserves' 
Nothing can be plainer than that the colonization scheme has had a 
great influence in weakening this prejudice against the blacks, and crea- 
ting an uiterest in their behalf, which must, in the nature of things, con- 
tinue to increase until the whole race shall be restored to an equality 
with the whites. 

3. Colonization exerts a favorable influence on the interests of the 
blacks, by improving their character and elevating their condition, so as 
to remove objections from the minds of those who oppose them. 

Before the Society commenced operations the character of the negro 
was degraded to a level with the brutes. They were even called 
brutes, and books were written, to show that they were not human. 
But since the days of colonization such thoughts and feelings have been 
laid aside. Men have begun to recognize the negro as a man, and 
treat him as such ; and he himself has become conscious of his power. 
Says a writer in the Christian Spectator, " Not Hayti has done more to 
make the negro character respected by mankind and to aflford the means 
of making the negro conscious of his manhood, than Liberia has al- 
ready accomplished. The name of Lot Carey is worth more than 
the name of Boyer or Petion. It has done, it is doing more to rescue the 
African character from degradation, than could be done by a thousand 
volumes against prejudice." And thus the writer goes on to say, " it 
has done, and is doing more to accelerate the abolition of slavery than 
could be done by a sliip-load of such pamphlets and speeches as some 
that we might mention. Elevate the character of the free people of 
color — let it be seen that they are men indeed — let the degrading 
associations that follow them be broken up by the actual improvement 
of their character, as a people, and negro slavery nuist rapidly wither 
and die. 

4. Colonization exerts a favoral)le influeiKM^ on the general interest of 
the blacks, esj)ecially by directing the thoughts of slave-holders to the 
subject of emancipation, as well as actually securing, in many cases, 
the emancipation of slaves. Of this we have abuiulant evidence. Al- 
most every week we hear of some slave, or a number of slaves, who 
have been emancipated. We hear also of many pcr.-^ons who are wil- 
ling to give freedom to their slaves, })roviding they cai^ be removed 
from the soil. There are multitudes of this description in Kentucky; 
and in Mi.ssouri a large proportion of the slave-holders are willing and 
desirous of doing this. A letter from a gentleman in St. Louis, says. 



15 

" A great change has taken place here within ten years on the subject 
of slavery. The advocates of perpetual bondage are very few. The 
slaves are, in many instances, an expense to their owners ; and the 
Colonization Society is looked to as the only hope of ridding the land 
of the burden." The same may be said of numbers in the other slave- 
holdino- states. On this subject, the writer above alluded to remarks, 
" This is not conjecture. The friends of colonization in their argu- 
ments can read off a catalogue of instances in which emancipation has 
already resulted from the progress of this work. We know that on the 
other hand it is said that the arguments and statements of colonization- 
ists prevent emancipation. But the proper proof of this assertion would 
be to bring forward the particular facts. Tell us of the individuals 
who have in fact been effectually hindered from setting their slaves at 
large by what they have read in the African Repository, or by what 
they have heard from the agents of the Society. We say, then, that 
colonization is bringing the power of example to bear on public senti- 
ment at the south in regard to slavery. Each single instance of eman- 
cipation is indeed a small matter, when compared with the continued 
slavery of two millions ; but every such instance, occurring in the midst 
of a slave-holding community, is a strong appeal to the natural senti- 
ments of benevolence and justice in all who witness it." It must be felt, 
it is felt, by all who hold their fellow-men in bondage. 

5. African colonization will exert a most happy influence on the gen- 
eral interest of the negro, particularly in reference to the abolition of 
slaves, by bringing free labor into competition with that of slaves. 
Many people in this country begin already to feel that slave labor is un- 
profitable ; and if their circumstances were such that they could em- 
ploy free labor, they would certainly do it. Self-interest alone would 
prompt nearly all the slave-holders in Missouri and Kentucky, and mul- 
titudes in Virginia and Maryland, to do this if they could. And not a 
few in the more determined slave-states are ready to acknowledge the 
comparative worthlessness of slave-labor, (for self-interest must be 
brought to bear upon the interest of emancipation) and they will be ready 
to release their slaves. Slavery will cease as soon as men shall be per- 
suaded that it is unprofitable. Now this will be the tendency of colo- 
nization. It will multiply the products of tropical regions, above wh?t 
can be done in slave-holding countries, and show to the latter, by actu- 
al demonstration, the unprofitableness of the system. On this subject 
the writer in the Spectator says, " We are confident that the most 
rapid and most effectual method to bring free labor into competi- 
tion with slave labor, and thus to drive the products of the latter out of 
every market, is to establish on the soil of Africa a free and civilized 
commonwealth, whose institutions shall all be fashioned after Ameri- 
can models, and whose population shall be pervaded and impelled by 
the spirit of American enterprize. This is the work which the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society is prosecuting with all its resources. The 
friends of slavery may dream that this work is to secure and perpetu- 
ate that miserable system ; but if any of them do thus imagine, they err 
as widely in that as they do in supposing that the repeal of the protect- 
ive tariff will relieve them of their embarrassments. The free-trade 
principles, for which they are now contending, are the principles which 
will, by and by, bring all slave-holders (o the alternative of universal 
emancipation, or universal bankruptcy.' 



16 

6. The prosecution of this work has a happy influence on the gen- 
eral interests of the blacks, by introducing into the slave-holding states 
inquiry and discussion respecting the evils of slavery, and the possibility 
of its abolition. Says the above writer in the Christian Spectator, 
*' The great body of the friends of the Colonization Society, at the South 
no less than at the North, regard the scheme of that institution as some- 
thing, which will ultimately, in some way, deliver the land of the curse 
of Slavery. All who oppose the Society there, oppose it on the same 
ground. They look upon it as bei\ig, in its tendency, and in the hopes 
of its supporters, an Anti-Slavery project. Thus, in those very regions, 
in which the system of Slavery sheds all its blasting influences, tliere is 
constituted a party, the members of which are recognized by their oppo- 
sers, and more or less distinctly themselves, as hostile to Slavery, and 
as looking for an opportunity to move for an abolition. In this way it 
was, that when an occasion presented itself, a few months ago, the legis- 
lature of Virginia became a scene of earnest and public discussion on 
this long interdicted theme, and to the astonishment of the nation it ap- 
peared that the party opposed to slavery was only not a majority. Had 
Colonization never been thought of, had the scheme of the American 
Colonization Society never been undertaken, who believes that projects 
for the abolition of slavery would have been so soon if ever discussed in 
the legislature of Virginia? Without that preparation of the public 
mind, which the Colonization Society in the calm and peaceful prose- 
cution of its labors has indirectly accomplislied, insurrection and mas- 
sacre, with all the fear and horrors which they occasion, would have 
led only to cruelties of legislation and of practice. There is no op- 
pression so unrelenting and desperate as when the oppressor fears his 
subjects ; and the unanimous feeling of Virginia would have been 
(erroneous indeed, but not on that account the less irresistible and in- 
flexible,) a feeling like that of him who holds a wolf by the ears : it is 
dangerous to keep him, but more dangerous to let him loose ; and there- 
fore^the more furious the struggles of the prisoner, the fiercer and closer 
will be the despairing grasp that holds him." 

We entertain no doubt that the discussions, thus commenced, will 
p-radually become more free and thorough ; will appeal more directly to^ 
tlfe great law that acknowledges the inalienable and universal rights ot 
man ; and will, at the same time, find its way still farther South, till it^ 
pervades and awakens every state from the rotomac to the Gult oi 
Mexico. This is inevitable : the discussion of such a subject, involving 
such hopes, and fears, and interests, when once it has been opened, can 
never be suppressed. Nor is this all : such a system as slavery cannot 
long withstand the power of free and full discussion. The hour in 
whfch the debate on slavery commenced in the capital at Richmond, 
may be considered as having scaled the death-warrant of the system, not 
only for Virginia, but for the nation. And now it may be said, that 
whatever is to be hereafter the success of the Colonization Society, in 
the prosecution of its own appropriate enterprize, this great result is ulti- 
mately sure. Not that it has nothing more to do by its indirect influ- 
ence in accelerating tliis result : crrtainlv the greater the succes.s of 
the Colonizaliou of AiVica, the greater will be the progress of public 
opinion towards tliis.consununation. But let the Society be dissolved, 
let the pirat(;s of tlia African s.\'is wreak iheir cherished wrath on Libe- 
ria—let Montserado be made again the mart for the slave-trade— let the 



I 



17 

spot now adorned with Christian churches become again the seat of 
devil-worship; let the smiling villages on the St. Paul's be made desolate, 
and the now cultivated soil be overspread with the vegetation of the 
wilderness ; still it will be true that the indirect influence of the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society has secured tlie abolition of Slavery." 

7. African Colonization will have a powerful tendency to destroy 
the slave trade. Hitherto all etforts to stop the progress of this abom- 
inable traffic have been unavailing. Notwithstanding the laws made 
against it by various nations, and especially against the importation of 
slaves into their territories, the work still goes on. It is estimated that 
50,000 were carried into foreign slavery the last year. And this will 
continue to be the fact for years to come, unless more effectual measures 
are taken than any that government can adopt. The slave-stealers lie 
along the coast of Africa, and glide up and down her rivers, ready to 
seize upon every man, woman and child, who come within their reach. 
And this they will continue to do in spite of all penal enactments. By 
resorting to false flags, and false decks, and false passports, they effect- 
ually elude detection ; or, if they are hard pressed and cannot escape 
their pursuers, they throw their cargoes overboard, and thus evade the 
law which requires that slaves shall be actually found in the ship in or- 
der to justify a capture. When hard pressed they will even head the 
negroes up in casks, and cast them into the sea, that they may take 
them up again when the chase is over. Now there is no conceivable 
way, while the world remains as it is, by which this inhuman traffic 
can be suppressed, but by establishing colonies on the coast of Africa. 
And this will do it. ' This will draw a cordon around the continent 
which the slave-trader cannot penetrate.' All communication with the 
natives will be cut off, and if it is not wholly so, the influence which the 
colonists will have upon them will remove their disposition to sell their 
brethren and sisters into bondage. , The colony at Liberia has already 
done this to a great extent. Says a recent British publication, when 
speaking of the influence of the American Colony at Liberia, ' Nothing 
has tended more to suppress the slave-trade in this quarter, tlian the 
constant intercourse and communication of the natives with these in- 
dustrious colonists. Wherever the influence of this colony extends, the 
slave-trade has been abandoned.' And we have other evidence to 
show that, for hundreds of miles around Liberia, the slave-trade has 
ceased. Is it not plam then that African colonization exerts, and if 
suffered to proceed will continue to exert, a favorable influence for the 
suppression of the slave-trade ? Does not Divine Providence seem to 
point to this as the only way to bring it to an end? Is not this the way 
by which those sighs and groans, and agonies unutterable, which Heav- 
en annually witnesses on the coast of Africa, and in the middle passage, 
will be brought to an end ? 

S. Colonization will have a favorable influence on the interests of the 
negro by affording facilities for the introduction of civilization and 
Christianity into the continent of Africa. The introduction of religion 
and the arts into Africa, as into every other hcatlien country, is an ob- 
ject which should be near the heart of every christian and friend of 
man. The whole continent is now filled with the habitations of cruelty 
— the people are sitting in the region and shadow of death. No gospel 
light has ever shone upon them ; but ignorance and superstition, and 
moral death, everywhere prevail. Now the establishment of colonies on 
3 



18 

the coast, which are under the influence of christian principle, will 
have a tendency to remove this darkness from the natives around. It 
has begun to do this already. Many of the natives around Liberia have 
desired to place themselves under the protection of its government, and 
esteem it no small privilege if they may be permitted to call themselves 
Americans. They are an.tious to place their children in the schools of 
the colonists, and many of them through the instructions which they 
have there received have become pious and devoted christians. Throuo-h- 
out the whole region, bordering on Liberia, the natives appear to be 
disarmed of prejudice, and ready to receive the instructions and adopt 
the principles of the colonists. Now let this colony be enlarged — let 
the means of education and christian knowledge be increased and ex- 
tended to the neighboring tribes — and multitudes of them would doubt- 
less be converted to God. If the colony at Liberia is successful, and re- 
ceives the confidence and support of the christian community, a colleo-e 
may shortly be established there which, by the blessing of Heaven, will 
qualify men to act as missionaries over the whole continent. Multitudes 
might there be trained up, who, with all their advantages of color and 
adaptation to the climate, will be vastly better qualified to preach the 
gospel to their countrymen than any who could go from this country. 
What encouragement then is there to urge forward the work of coloni- 
sation 1 For the sake of the poor natives alone, let the work go forward 
— let colonies be established all along the coast — let churches and 
schools be built up — circulate Bibles and tracts, and let the light of 
the gospel shine — and the natives will feel its holy influence. One tribe 
will receive the truth and communicate it to another, and they again to 
another — knowledge will increase and multiply daily. Every gale 
which sweeps from the western coast, will waft Messiah's name far- 
ther and farther into the interior, until that whole continent shall be- 
come vocal with the high praises of our God. 

Such are some of the favorable influences of the Colonization Socie- 
ty on the general interests of the colored population. We might enu- 
merate many more, and say many things to obviate the objections 
which some have urged against the Society, but time will not permit. 
We conclude the argument, therefore, by urging all the friends of colo- 
nization diligently to consider the testimony concerning this enterprise, 
and to prepare themselves to vindicate it against the attacks of its ene- 
mies, and to commend it to the confidence and support of the commu- 
nity. The state of feeling at the present time towards the Colonization 
Society requires that something should be done. Its enemies, though 
feeble, are clamorous, and if nothing is done to check their influence, 
may deceive some portion of the people. Let, then, the friends of colo- 
nization awake and prepare themselves for a discussion, from which they 
have everything to hope. The enterprise will go forward — the colony at 
Liberia will be sustained, and the society will receive, as it deserves, 
the universal and cordial gratitude and support of every portion of the 
©omnumitv. 



19 



PRESENT STATE OF THE COLONY. 

The following letters from a respectable emigrant, will farther show 
the present condition of the settlements : 

From Liberia. — We are happy to announce the arrival at Liberia 
of the ship Jupiter, Captain Peters, which vessel sailed from Norfolk at 
the close of October last, and for whose safety serious apprehensions 
were entertained. Capt. Peters called at the Cape de Verds, and at 
several places on the African coast, before he touched at Monrovia, at 
which port he arrived on the 7th of March. The Rev. Melvin B. Cox, 
the gentleman sent out by the Missionary Society of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, was a passenger in this ship, and was in good heahh 
on the 6th of March, the date of our last advices. 

Some of our readers will probably recollect that in December last we 
noticed the departure from Norfolk of the brig Roanoke, Capt. Hatch, 
for Monrovia. In this vessel an interesting colored family, named 
Reynolds, from Onondaga county, were passengers. The Onondaga 
Standard,' of the 20th May, contains two letters from Mr. Reynolds, 
which are subjoined. Tiie letters corroborate the favorable accounts 
which have been given of Liberia. 

Monrovia, Liberia, March 1, 1S33. 

Mr. Copp : — Sir : Mindful of your request that I should inform you 
of my safe arrival, and how I am pleased with the country, I improve 
the opportunity presented by return of Roanoke to write a short 
letter. We had a pleasant passage of 42 days from land to land, and by 
the attention of Capt. Hatch, were rendered quite comfortable. Not 
one of my family were sea-sick a day; and by the favor of God our 
health still continues, though we do not expect to escape a visit of the 
fever-and-ague, which scarcely ever passes by new comers without a 
call. 

I find, as was represented at home, that religion is flourishing, and 
Christians active. There is at present some little excitement among 
sinners at Caldwell and Millsburg. We have Baptists, Methodists, and 
Presbyterians here, and all seem engaged. At present I remain at 
Caldwell, and shall continue to until the fever leaves me. It is very 
pleasantly situated on the St. Paul's, and might, under suitable agricul- 
tural improvement, speedily equal in beauty any of the river towns in 
America. . 

The land about Caldwell is rich and readily subdued ; the only source 
of evil hitherto, I think, arises from neglect of agricultural improvement. 
The fruits are various ; the orange and lime are found wild, and only 
need the same care to make them abundant, as is bestowed on the 
apple in New York. Lemons and papaw, and cassia and plantain, &c. 
are also abundant. Pine-apples cover whole fields, growing wild. 
The Lima bean and Cotton, when planted, continue to bear, I am in- 
formed, for several years. I have seen coffee, and cotton, and indigo, 
wild and abundant — also, pepper of two kinds. Water-melons and cu- 
cumbers and grapes are found in some gardens : — thus you perceive we 
have abundance of fruit to reward the laborer. A farmer on the St. 
Paul's river told me that, from one quart oi Indian Corn, he raised three 
barrels in one year. There are many cattle and hogs and fowls here, 



20 

and when more attention is bestowed on the land, rich pasture lands 
will be abundant. I am informed that one hundred miles inland the 
cattle are large and numerous. 

With a deep sense of gratitude to yourself and the other friends who 
assisted me to come to this land of privileges, I desire to tender you all 
my sincere thanks. 

Yours, most respectfully, 

WILLIAM REYNOLDS. 



The following is to a colored friend. 

Monrovia, March 1, 1833. 
I write a few lines by Roanoke, to urge you to come out to Libe- 
ria. The country exceeds what I anticipated while in America. It is 
rich, and abounds in tropical fruits — it yields a large return to the labor- 
er. The climate is delightful, and the heat not near so oppressive as in 
our summers and harvesting. The sea-breeze blows here every day, 
and at night I find a blanket adds to my comfort. A man can get a 
living and make money here in various ways as in the United States, by 
trade or farming, &c. I am intending to try farming. If you come at 
all come soon ; the earliest settlers, we think, will have the best chance. 
My family is all well, and send their respects to you. Remember me 
to all inquiring friends. 

Yours, &c. 

WILLIAM REYNOLDS. 



We shall fortify our discussion of the subject matter of the preceding 
pages, by the addition of a k\v authentic documents, which will throw 
light on some points of importance. From the Monthly Colonizationist, 
we take the following description of the presei^t state of the Col- 
ony : — 

The Colony. 

The cause of African colonization never was more prosperous or more 
promising than at the present moment. In all its departments this is 
the case ; it is so abroad, and it is so at home. 

In regard to the Colony, — which, after all, is at once the best evi- 
dence of the progress of the Parent Institution, and the surest test of its 
principles, — the authentic and indisputable accounts which reach us 
from every quarter, must be admitted as sufficient to satisfy all reasona- 
ble and candid minds, not only of the actual prosperity of the present 
settlements, but of the practicableness of the colonial scheme on the 
larger and nobler scale always anticipated, more or less, by the advo- 
cates of the cause. Instances of mismanagement, as well as misfortune, 
doubtless have occurred ; it would be indeed a new thing in the history 
of colonization, as well as in the conduct of all other systems whose 
progress depends on the labor of men, if there had not been such instan- 
ces. But, not to mention that these misfortunes were mostly in their 
nature such as cannot be repeated, and such as, in all events, only past 
experience has been necessary to prevent for the future, — and not to 
insist on the credit fairly due to the Society, for frankly acknowledging 
the mistakes we allude to, and for always manifesting a readiness to 
submit to instruction, and to act vigorously and promptly in the correc- 
tion of errors, — who, among the foes of the Institution, will at the worst, 



21 

undertake to deny that a degree of success has, on the whole, attended 
its efforts on the African coast, to which, in the language of ]Mr. Cres- 
son, " the annals of Colonization may be triumphantly challenged for a 
parallel ?' Since thedate of this declaration of our able friend inEngland, 
the population of the Colony has been increased by more than one half, 
nearly eight hundred emigrants having, been carried out during the year 
immediately preceding the first of January last. Other accessions to its 
establishments, during the same period, are among the most important 
which have taken place. Very satisfactory arrangements have been 
effected by the Colonial Agent for the settlement of Grand Bassa, a tract 
of country which, in regard to its climate, soil, situation, and produc- 
tions of all kinds, is proved to be inferior to no other district on the 
whole coast : a valuable territory on the western banks of the St. 
John's river, with four large islands within the river, additional to the 
immense tract purchased by Mr. Ashmun, have not only been peaceably 
obtained of the natives, but the latter have pledged themselves, — 
such seems to be their anxiety to trade and associate wath the Libe- 
rians, — to erect suitable buildings, at their own expense, for the accom- 
modation of the first emigrants. At the time we are writing, this prom- 
ising settlement is doubtless already commenced. 

It farther appears that possession has also been obtained of a large 
tract of land at Grand Cape Mount, a point on the coast about as far 
north from the main settlement, at Monrovia, as Grand Bassa is south. 
The exports of the natives have heretofore been from 860,000 to 670,- 
000 per annum. The fine territory now ceded, is situated at a short dis- 
tance from the sea, on the shore of a lake, about twenty miles in length, 
navigable for small vessels, and into which flow several rivers, afford- 
ing important facilities for commerce with the interior. The chiefs of 
the country, who are thought to be more advanced in civilization than 
any others south of Sierra Leone, have granted an unquestionable title 
to this land, on the sole condition that settlers shall be placed upon it, 
and that schools shall be established for the benefit of native children. 

Some of these chiefs, having obtained the rudiments of an English 
education in Liberia, expressed earnest desires that the benefits of in- 
struction should be afforded to their countrymen ; and the young men 
declared their purpose of submitting to the laws of the Colony, and 
their willingness to make further grants of land, to any extent desired, 
whenever the terms of the present negotiations shall have been fulfill- 
ed. The spot selected for a settlement is said to be healthy, and the 
soil capable of producing almost every thing of value that grows within 
the tropics.* 

The agriculture of the Colony was never so thrifty as at the present 
time. Heretofore it has been to some extent neglected, as is always the 
case with new colmiies ; but the most vigorous measures have been re- 
cently adopted by the managers for its encouragement and permanent 
prosperity, and these efforts are attended with great success. To the 
cultivation of coffee, especially — of which the finest quality abounds 
spontaneously in this latitude— the attention of several of the most re- 
spectable colonists has been turned ; and 30,000 coffee-trees have been 
planted by a single individual (a colored gentleman.) The wardens 
and farms of the recaptured Africans, at their two beautifiil little villa- 
ges near Caldwell, are in so prosperous a state that " they not only 

* See the Sixtee«th Annual Report, 1833. 



22 

raise sufficient for their own consumption," says the Colonial Agent, 
" but a considerable surplus for the market." At one of these villages 
the same o-entleman speaks of observing a tract of one hundred acres 
planted with cassada, interspersed with patches of Indian corn and 
sweet potatoes." 

The counnerce of the Colony, in 1S31, greatly exceeded that of any 
former year; within that period, forty-si.\ vessels visited the port of Mon- 
rovia, and the exports were nearly S^l)D,000. But from the last Report 
■we learn that, while fifty-nine vessels had visited the port during the 
year preceding last May, the exports during the same period, (consist- 
ing chiefly of camwood, ivory, palm-oil, tortoise-shell and gold,) amount- 
ed' to •$ 12-5,549 16 — of imports, to 5:<8l),000 — and the merchandise 
and produce on hand on the 1st of January, 1832, to 'ij)47,000. New 
avenues have been recently opened with the interior tribes. Caravans 
from a considerable distance have visited the country. The Dey peo- 
ple, who number from six to eight tliousand, occupying the coast im- 
mediately north of Monrovia, have m treaty agreed to allow a free pas- 
sage to the Colony through their territories. There is now a commer- 
cial connexion extending from our settlement even to the borders of 
Foota Jallo. 

It perhaps sufiicicntly indicates the moral condition of the Colony, 
that three churches have been erected during the past year ; and that 
there are now six day schools for children, and one evening school for 
adults, comprising in all two hundred and twenty-six pupils. Two fe- 
male schools, tauglit by well-qualified teachers, whose salaries are paid 
by ladies of Philadelphia, are attended by ninety-nine pupils. Among 
the re-captured Africans, also, a school is about to commence, under 
the patronage of the same ladies; and a Sunday school already ex- 
ists. Towards the foundation of a high school, 82,000 have been 
recently given by Mr. Sheldon, of New York, and $400 by the Hon. C. 
F. Mercer, of Virginia. The Massachusetts State Society, at its last 
annual meeting, %oted to appropriate 8400 per annum, for the 
salary of a competent male instructer at Liberia, and half that sum for 
a female. This is well. It is more important to establish thoroughly 
the moral and intellectual character of the Colony, and especially of 
the risinir generation, than even to extend the settlements themselves. 
The mana^ffcrs have taken a view of this subject, which merits the 
warmest sanction of all the friends of education, the friends oi repub- 
licanism, the friends of freedom and truth. Whatever be the mmber 
of the eini<Trants, let their rharartrr be such, or let it be made such 
as may serve fitly for the foundation-stone whereon, in alter times, shall 
rest the firmest liberties of tiiat continent, and the noblest glory ot this. 
Slow thoucrh the building of the edifice may be,— and so has been the 
growth of'every empire under heaven,— let it be «re, and let it be 
strontr. No man will inquire, a century hence, how many colonists 
were "carried out in any given twelve-mouth. Let it be built lor the 
use of posterity, and for the praise of history. L-t it be raised as the 
pyramids wore raised, and it shall stand as the pyramids have stood. 
The Tpriit of orient civilization shall shine again, like the sunrise, upon 
its sidel^ ; aiKl the last rays of freedom's western orb, "lany »" ^S^ 
hence, when our own republic may live but in name, shall still linger 
and play on its summits." 



23 

Abolition of Slavery. — The following letter, from an accomplish-' 
ed and intelligent gentleman in North Carolina to a distinguished gen- 
tleman in the city of Boston, is contained in the Columbian Centinel. 
It exhibits a specimen of the sentiments which generally, if not univer- 
sally, prevail on this subject throughout the southern states, and may 
enable some of our infatuated agitators to perceive the folly and madness 
of their course : — 

Salisbury, Rowan County, N. C, May 29th, 1833. 

Dear Sir, — I shall offer no other apology for troubling you with a 
letter at this time, than the importance of its subject matter. I have 
chosen to address you as being a distinguished philanthropist ; and on 
more than one occasion, a great sufferer in the cause of real humanity ; 
and, from the past history of your life, I feel confident that I was not so 
deceived in the high estimate I formed of your character during our too 
short acquaintance, that I need fear you have turned a visionary. 

It is frequently asserted in many of our southern newspapers, that 
there exists in the northern and eastern sections of our country, a dis- 
position to interfere with slavery. This I have confidently denied on 
the strength of conversations I had with distinguished gentlemen when 
in your section ; and on the authority of Mr. Webster's gratifyino- asser- 
tion, that there prevails at the north such a feeling on this subject as 
the south would wish. More than two years since, in New England 
I heard Garrison, whom I looked upon as a misguided enthusiast, and 
literally, a monomaniac, on the condition of the negroes in America ; 
and I was happy to find that he was discountenanced by the sober and 
really benevolent portion of the community. I begin, however, to 
doubt, if I have not been somewhat in error. Something, I know not 
well by what class, nor as yet to what extent, surely is agitated among 
you. I am not a miscellaneous reader of newspapers, and I receive 
none from New England, so that my information is limited to extracts 
occasionally made into more southern journals. Among these, I was 
greatly struck by the following paragraph taken from the Boston Com- 
mercial Gazette : " At the last quarterly meeting of the New England 
Anti-Slavery Society, the following resolution was adopted unanimous- 
ly. Among the gentlemen who advocated the adoption was Mr. Ama- 
sa Walker, the candidate of the Anti-Masons for Congress. . 

'Resolved, That the principles and measures of The New England 
Anti-SIavery Society, are consistent with every duty which we owe to 
our country, and that benevolence to the masters not less than to the 
slaves require us to advocate the doctrine of immediate aboli- 



tion 



Here is the germ, I fear, (and I tremble while I think on it,) of what 
will work the dissolution of our glorious Union. For the moment that 
mterterence with the condition of our slates is seriously attempted by 
any considerable party in the non-slave- holding states, that moment tkis 
Union IS at an end. A determination not to suffer the free states to in- 
termeddle in any manner, with the condition of the slaves, unites in 
tne most perfect unanmuty every political party, every religious sect, 
every class of society in the slave-holding states. And I pledge myself 
lor the accuracy of the opinion, that not even an atUmpt to settle the 
question growing out of the agitation of slavery, would be made on the 
floor of Congress. 

I love the Union with an unsurpassable affection ; language cannot 



24 



express the strength of it. I derive my being from the early pilgrims 
of New England, and I shrink from the idea of that ever becoming to 
me a foreign country. You know that I have regarded my rank of an 
Americ.\n Citizen as a prouder birthright than that of the haughtiest 
noble of Europe, whose lineage is lost in the darkness of antiquity. But 
sooner than suffer the Abolitionists to carry into execution their plans, 
I too would go for a dissolution of this Union. I believe before God ! 
that justice and humanity to slave, as well as to master, would require 
of me to do so. This is not a fitting occasion — neither is it necessary 
in addressing you, my friend, to dwell on the dangers to be apprehend- 
ed from meddlesome ignorance in so delicate a relation as that of mas- 
ter and slave; nor to expatiate on the unwarrantable interference with 
the rio-hts of others, nor on the violation of faith solemnly pledged even 
in the constitution of our liberties, as is purposed by the Abolitionists. 
In portraying the dreadful consequences to master, and still more to the 
slave with the vices, crimes, bloodshed and horrors, that would follow 
immediate abolition, who would fail to be eloquent? But immediate 
abolition, is an event quite out of tbe question; and one of the certain 
consequences of any movement, either on the part of the slaves or of the 
Abolitionists, is the riveting with tenfold severity of the chains of the 
former. This any one may easily perceive, by examining tlie enact- 
ments on this subject, made since the distribution of Walker's pam- 
phlet, and the Virginia insurrection. 

Do not conclude from my earnestness, that I believe the Abolitionists 
as yet, form either a numerous or powerful party — but the contrary. — 
Still, i wish, as much as lies in my humbb self, to warn the good and 
intelligent to repress in its birth, by their strong reprobation, a visiona- 
ry spirit, which, unchecked, will menace the Union of these United 
States while it consio-ns to a severer bondage the unfortunate objects of 
their crusading folly. Especially do not conclude that I am hostile to 
emancipation m every form, and ready to give over the African race to 
perpetual, hopeless bondage. No. But in this matter the South must 
take the lead ; there exists among us on this point, a jealousy— shall I 
not add, well grounded? The Colomzation Society is operating a 
great (haiige in imhlic opinion here—it is gaining the confidence oj the 
whole South. . i r , 

I rejoice that the Abolitioni.'^ts are running tilt against it: and it not 
discredited by the mad zeal of misguided pliilanthropists, it will lead, 1 
am sure, to the adoption of judicious measures on a much larger scak 
to rescue from servitude and degradation the untbrtunatc Aincans 

amongst us. i- • • i 

I greatly desire to learn from you the extent ot any disposition ttia- 
may exist in your section to attempt directly the abolition of slavery n 
the south, and wliatevrr else of interest, you may have to communicatt 
on this subject. Could you furnish me any intbrmation calculated tc 
remove the suspicions and (juict the ajjprehensions of the South, (for J 
hope and still believe that ri<iht feelings concerninii slavery prevail at the 
North,) its putdication in our newspapers here, I feel confident would 
be |)roductiv«' of LToat good. 

Hoping to hear from you at your earliest leisure, I am, very truly, 
your friend and iiumble servant. 



A 



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